The Mole: Season 1
by l-mage
Summary: 10 players, competing for a prize that could be up to 1,000,000 coins. They must work together, yet be selfish. For there is one phony player, a saboteur. The Mole. The player who finds out who the Mole is will win.
1. Chapter 1

**Story Intro: Hey guys! I've been an enormous fan of the show The Mole for about 10 years now. I have always wanted to try to write a Mole fan fiction, and so I present you with this! I'm using characters from some of the Mario RPG's as contestants. I tried to use some lesser-known characters, and hopefully I'll be able to make this interesting! Also huge inspiration from krisetchers and Princess Toady on this ^.^**

Toad Town. A simply laid out village in the Mushroom Kingdom, Toad Town was home to the castle grounds of the ruler of the kingdom. The place was home to a railroad station, as well as the docks that brought in most tourists and trade to the town The town square, ordinarily a center of traffic in the castle town, was currently barren of its usual townspeople. Perhaps because it was dark out, and the moon was shining brightly, illuminating the Town in a glowing light. In the center, a single Monty Mole stood surrounded by a few cameras and spotlights that had been set up in the square. Behind the Mole, a huge crane stood, with a platform at the top. The Monty Mole coughed, tapping his foot nervously on the ground. In the distance from the South, West, and East a small motorcade of differently colored cars was seen approaching the square. Upon seeing the approaching vehicles, the Monty Mole began to narrate to a camera.

"In approximately one minute, ten strangers will arrive here at Toad Town square. These ten strangers will be forced to work together, as their depends on their success in challenges we present them with. The players are competing to add money to a group pot, which only one player will win. However, there is a catch to the game. One of these ten players is a traitor, a saboteur. The Mole. This player is a double agent hired by the producers to sabotage the efforts of the other players. At the end of each segment of play, the players will take a quiz about the identity of the Mole. The player who scores the lowest on this quiz will be executed, and must leave the game immediately." The Monty Mole paused, before continuing. "The player who wins the game will be the one who can answer the question... Who is the Mole?"

The camera quickly zoomed on to a projector screen that was green with a black thumb print on it. On one side, a picture pops up, while on the other, information regarding the player is shown. Monty Mole narrates as a picture of a Big Bandit appears, _"Is it Bandy Andy, a 23 year old prizefighter from Glitzville?"_

The screen changes as a red Dry Bones appears in the picture. _"Is it Red Bones, a 38 year old attendant from Hooktail Castle?"_

The screen changes to one of a blue Duplighost. _"Is it Lee Sheet, a 24 year old martial arts expert from Toad Town?"_

The next player shown was ethereal and glowing white in appearance. _"Is it Luvbi Grambus, a 22 year old politician and ruler from the Overthere?"_

Next it displayed a friendly looking Toad with a black and red cap. _"Is it Hinopio Flaret, a 27 year old shopkeeper from Barrel Volcano?"_

It then showed a friendly-looking Koopa girl with a blonde ponytail. _"Is it Koopie Koo, a 26 year old florist from Petalburg?"_

The screen next displayed an elderly Goomba with swirl glasses perched on his head. _"Is it Professor Frankly, a 61 year old professor from Rogueport?"_

The next to show was a purple dinosaur with an orange top hat. _"Is it Croco Dials, a 26 year old entrepreneur from Bandit's Way?"_

A Cragnon man appeared _next. "Is it Flint Cragley, a 36 year old documentary maker from Floro Caverns?"_

A female Lakitu with glasses was shown last. _"Or is it Lakilulu Spike, a 21 year old florist from Flower Fields?"_

The screen then changed back to a shot of the Monty Mole, who off the projector screen gravely watched as the vehicles drove into the square and stopped. From the South, red, green, and brown cars pulled up, and Flint, Lakilulu, and Frankly hopped out respectively. From the West, blue, purple, black, and orange cars arrived, giving way to Bandy, Croco, Hinopio, and Red. Finally, from the East came yellow, pink, and white cars, and out came Koopie, Luvbi, and Lee. The ten players gathered together, uneasily looking at each other and at the silent Mole standing in front of them. After a few moments of silence, the Mole began to speak.

"Hello, players, and welcome to the first season of The Mole! My name is Montgomery, but you can call me Monty for short." The players called out nervous greetings, before Monty interrupted.

"As you all know, you have gathered together here because you were selected to compete in this game. At the end of the long journey, it could be worth a million coins to one of you!"

The players cheered, before Monty continued. "In the game, you will participate in team challenges that if you manage to succeed at, will add money to a group pot. Each task is worth a sizable amount of coins, so teamwork is essential in order to win the most money. However," he said, pausing for effect, "There is a traitor among your midst. A double agent. The Mole. This player has been hired by the producers to sabotage your efforts, while pretending to be a genuine contestant. At the end of each segment of the game, there will be a quiz on the identity of the Mole. The player who scores the lowest... will be executed, and sent home immediately." The ten players all gasped, although one gasp was faked. "Enough of the talk, however. I want you all to meet each other, and then select someone you think is a good judge of character." The players quickly introduced themselves, and then began to discuss amongst each other who would be this judge.

"As someone in a position of ruling, I must make character judgements for my subordinates all the time. As such, I feel I would be a good candidate," Luvbi offered.

"Yeah? Honestly, I think we don't have much better choice," Hinopio replied. "We're all total strangers, so I think her idea is sound." Croco quickly raised his hand.

"I agree! Can we all agree on Luvbi?" he asked the group.

 **Croco: As soon as I heard the rules of the game and saw that crane, I had a feeling we would be using it somehow. I didn't know to what capacity, but I wanted to make sure I was involved in the challenge.**

"I'm okay with it," Koopie Koo shrugged. "I don't want that position."

"Yeah, me neither. I think Luvbi is a great choice," Red said.

 **Red: I had a feeling Luvbi would be our best bet, considering none of us know each other. It was also a good way for me to feel out any suspicious activity that she might try**.

"So Luvbi is your choice? Okay, Luvbi, come over here," Monty said. Luvbi complied, and Monty proceeded to hand her a piece of paper and a pen. " "Our first challenge is called Faith of Leap! In this challenge, five of you will be jumping from the crane behind me! Don't worry, we have dedicated ourselves to your safety so this will be a perfectly safe bungee jump. For each player that successfully jumps, 5,000 coins will be added to the pot, meaning this part of the challenge is worth up to 25,000 coins!" Bandy and Hinopio cheered, while Frankly and Lakilulu shivered.

 **Bandy: I hear Monty say that, and I think "This is gonna be so dope!** "

 **Lakilulu: As a Lakitu, I shouldn't be afraid of heights... But away from my cloud, I feel so exposed and weak.**

Monty then coughed, and said "While you select the five players that are to jump, Luvbi will be making guesses as to who she thinks you have chosen to jump. For every correct guess she makes, 5,000 coins will be added to the pot, which means the challenge is worth up to 50,000 coins!" Luvbi stared at the ground nervously. Monty then turned to her, and said "Would you follow a producer of our lovely show down to the tent, so the other players can't influence your guesses?" Luvbi nodded, and floated after the Toad producer.

 **Luvbi: Five minutes in, and I'm already in a position to make a fool of myself...**

"But here's the catch," Monty said gravely, surprising the remaining nine players. "As you make your leap, you must grab a green flag that will be hanging in front of you. If you do not grab the flag, not only will your jump not earn 5,000 coins, but Luvbi's guess will be void as well. I encourage you, choose your jumpers wisely."

The players looked at each other, concerned. This task was not as easy as they had first thought, Hinopio immediately said "I'll be jumping. I know I can grab a flag." Croco also volunteered, saying "I'm a former thief, I know how to grab things, hehe." A few players looked sideways at the dinosaur after this statement.

 **Frankly: I believe Croco would be a great Mole. A good thief knows how to hide in the shadows, before pouncing on their victim.**

"I'm gonna jump too, I'm an athlete, how hard can this be?" Bandy said, eying the tall structure that stood in the foreground before the castle. "Well, relatively."

"I too shall jump, as I am athletic due to my training," Lee stated.

 **Koopie: Lee gives me a weird vibe. I don't know why. Maybe it's the sheet...**

"That means we need one more jumper," Hinopio realized. The remaining players looked uneasily at one another.

"I don't believe Luvbi would select an elderly Goomba like me to jump, so I don't believe I shall jump" Frankly said. Unable to argue with his logic, Red, Koopie, Flint, Lakilulu all looked up at the crane in discomfort.

"Umm... Honestly guys, I don't think I can make that jump," Koopie admitted.

"None of us want to make it, doesn't mean we can't," Croco said pointedly. Koopie glared at him. "I'm not jumping, and that's that."

 **Croco: I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to win money. My playing style might not endear me to people, but as long as I know who the Mole is, I don't care.**

"I'll jump," a meek voice volunteered. Lakilulu nervously walked over to where the first four jumpers were being prepared for their jump.

 **Lee: It is much too early to make suspicions of the Mole. Only a fool would sabotage this early.**

"So the five jumpers will be Croco, Hinopio, Lakilulu, Bandy, and Lee! We'll see if you all can complete your jumps, and if Luvbi has judged you all correctly," Monty said. Meanwhile, Luvbi was segregated in a small tent writing down her five jumpers.

 **Luvbi: Selecting five jumpers was hard! I had to guess, after knowing these people for 3 minutes, who would choose to do what.**

"I think my list is done... Alright, I am finished," she called out. A producer opened the flap of the tent and brought her back out to the square. A good distance from the crane, she strained her eyes to make out what was going on. "I can't see who's up there," she complained. "This is going to be so nerve-wracking."

Meanwhile, at the top of the crane, the five jumpers waited. Lakilulu looked over the side, and immediately regretted it. "Oh my god... That is so far," she whispered. "Yeah it is! It's gonna be so sick though! We're freaking bungee jumping!" Bandy replied excitedly, not realizing the Lakitu was looking down in fear. Hinopio shook his head.

"Hey, it's alright. It really isn't very far, and you'll make us at least 5,000 coins if you do it," he encouraged. The scared cloud-rider looked back at him with big, round eyes.

"Players! It is time for one of you to jump," Monty exclaimed. Croco quickly raised his hand, and crept up onto the platform. He waited as they prepared his rope, slapping his tail on the ground impatiently. Finally given the okay, the entrepreneur swiftly eyed the flag in front of him, and stepped and leapt, snatching the flag as he fell out into open air. "Whoo! That was awesome!"

 **Croco: Honestly, I might have came here to win money. But I'll be damned if I lie and say that wasn't a blast *laughs*.**

Next to jump was Lee. He stepped onto the platform, and leapt out into the night. He also was able to grab his flag as he fell.

 **Lee: All for the sake of the game.**

Luvbi watched as the unidentifiable figure jumped into the night sky. "I hope that was someone I picked..."

On the platform, Hinopio volunteered to go next. "Lakilulu, remember, all of us have been ok. You'll be okay," he reassured, a second before he leapt out and snared his flag. "Hell yeah!" he shouted out as he dangled in the air.

 **Hinopio: I knew I would have no problem jumping. I wondered about Lakilulu. It was a little suspicious that a Lakitu would have problems with height to me though.**

On the ground, the four players who were not jumping watched the crane with anticipation. "Geez, I'm sure glad I'm not jumping. I couldn't do that," Koopie said, shaking her head as she stared up at the enormous crane.

"An old man like me ought not to do things like that," Frankly said. "I'm a researcher, not an adventurer."

"Man, I just shoot videos. I don't do stunts," Flint said, keeping his bravado clear in his tone even as he admitted his fear.

"I admire their courage... But I think I'm fine being a coward," Red admitted, to laughter from the other three.

 **Bandy: So when we're up there, I'm trying to go last, cause I figure, I need to make sure she jumps. But she totally refused that.**

"You wanna go, I'm cool with last?" Bandy asked. Lakilulu shook her head. "Still working up the nerve... Go ahead," she replied. The Bandit shook his head. "Alright! Here goes, baby!" He stepped up, and with his jump grabbed his flag with ease.

 **Bandy: Don't matter though. Gotta keep grinding baby! Get those coins.**

Lakilulu was the last player left. She nervously climbed onto the platform, and then made the mistake of looking. Eyes tearing up, she stepped backwards off of it. "I can't do this. I just can't," she said tearfully. Monty looked at her tear-stricken face, before nodding. "You don't have to jump. Unfortunately, any money your jump might have earned is lost, making this challenge now worth 40,000 instead of 50,000 coins." The Lakitu nodded. At the bottom, a disbelieving Croco slammed his tail on the ground. "How does a freaking Lakitu not jump? That's money we're losing, straight cold hard cash!"

 **Croco: I don't know if Lakilulu was really scared, or if it was an act because she's the Mole.** **Either way it pissed me off.**

Once the Lakitu reached the ground, she was reunited with the other eight. Ashamed, she looked down at the ground and stood a few yards away from group. Red and Koopie walked over to her to try to console her.

"Listen, I wouldn't even consider it. You're way braver than me," Koopie said with a wry grin. Red nodded. "It's not the end of the world, it's at most 10,000 coins. There's just a little more we can possibly add," he said with a grin. Lakilulu smiled. "I guess you're right... I sure feel like a lame Lakitu right now though."

 **Lakilulu: I know I'm probably gonna get it from my family, and my boyfriend Lakilester, when I get home. I'll take it though, not much else I can do. *shrugs***

Luvbi then floated over to the group. "Well guys, let's see how this went!" she exclaimed with false cheer.

"Players, I would like to congratulate you! Already, you have added 20,000 coins to the pot!" Monty informed. The players cheered. "Now, for the second half of the challenge. Luvbi, who did you pick to jump?"

"Well, my first thought was immediately Lakilulu since she flies around on a cloud. So I picked her." Monty nodded. "That was a correct guess! Unfortunately, Lakilulu was unable to jump due to fear, so no money is added to the pot." Croco and Bandy both gave the Lakitu dirty looks.

"Well, shoot. My second pick to jump was Flint. I figured as a TV show host who gets down and dirty that he would have no fear of jumping." Monty shook his head.

"Flint was not one of the jumpers. So far, you are zero for two." Luvbi looked crestfallen.

"My third pick was Hinopio, as he seemed excited before the challenge." The Toad pumped his fists. "There we go!" he shouted excitedly.

"That was correct! You are now one for three," Monty said. Luvbi sighed in relief.

"Not a total failure then! My fourth pick was Bandy, since he is an athlete and should have more guts than most," the politician explained. The Mole nodded.

"That is correct! You are now at two correct guesses," Monty said.

"My final guess was Red. I didn't have time to really meet very many people, so I honestly just went off of first impression." The host shook his head sadly.

"Unfortunately, the final jumper was Lee. As such, instead of 25,000 coins, only 10,000 will be added to the pot," Monty said. "Your total pot now stands at 30,000 coins." The players looked at each other happily—30,000 coins was a lot of money for one night of being on the show.

 _ **Pot: 30,000 coins**_

 **Hinopio: Now, I don't know why, but when we were introducing ourselves, Lee wouldn't say what his occupation was. Why not? We're going to have to be honest about it later I'm sure. That seems odd to me.** **Then he was not selected by Luvbi due to first impressions and no info. If he mentions his profession, she picks him.**

 **Lakilulu: Why would Luvbi choose Red? Red is an attendant... They aren't used to things like this.**

The host then pointed to the inn standing on the right-hand side of the square. "Tonight, you will be staying at the Toad Town Inn! You all will need to pair up into groups of two for the time that we are staying at this inn." Quickly the players discussed who would be where.

"Yo, Croco? I'm thinking you and me, homie," Bandy said to the dinosaur who shrugged. "Alright," he replied.

"Mr. Lee, you seem to be a quiet individual. Surely you won't mind rooming with an old man like myself, who likes the quiet?" Frankly questioned. Lee nodded.

"So, I've never met a celebrity. You wanna room man? I got so many questions," Hinopio exlaimed. Flint, taken aback, could only mutter a 'sure'.

 **Flint: This guy has so much energy! I'm supposed to be the energetic dude here.**

Lakilulu and Koopie quickly decided they had to room together, as the two youngest girls. This left Luvbi to room with Red. The two seemed content, as Monty surveyed the group. "Okay players, you may go to your rooms for the night. I do suggest you get some sleep, as tomorrow will be very eventful." The ten players trudged over to the inn, where they were all assigned rooms. Koopie and Lakilulu were in room 111, Croco and Bandy in 112, Flint and Hinopio in 113, Lee and Frankly in 114, and Luvbi and Red in 115. As it was past 12:00 by the time the players got to their rooms, there was very little discussion between the players. They all went straight to sleep, forgoing revealing conversation for sleep. The next morning, the players were woken up by a bell hop at 8:30, and brought to a fancy breakfast hall. In the middle of the hall lay ten books, with a white note on top of the books. The ten players sat down around the table, all eyeing the books and note in the middle. No one wanted to be the first to take it, and a heavy silence fell on the group. Finally, Croco reached out and grabbed at the note, and as soon as his fingers touched the note, Monty leapt out from behind a curtain, surprising all the players. "Hello, and welcome to breakfast!" he shouted. Croco looked guiltily at the host, and dropped the note. "No, no, it's quite alright Croco! Why don't read the note and pass it around!" Croco looked down at the note:

the Bell tolls Forth whom is My First prey, in what way will I sabotage today? I Drew up A plan, but it's Mine to keep! If you try to Figure it out, You'll only lose sleep! Signed, the Mole!

"It's a message from the Mole! What the hell..." the dinosaur looked at in surprise before passing it down.

 **Croco: That note was weird. Too weird. I felt as if it was a clue but I couldn't figure it out.**

The players all looked at the note, before Monty exclaimed "You should probably wait to throw the note away, as I'm about to give you one of the most important things you can have in this game: Journals!" He picked up the books, and passed them to Koopie. "Each of you should pick a journal. This is your one place that you can write all your thoughts down in this game, and will prove very helpful to retaining key info for the quizzes." Koopie took journal 3, and passed it down. The rest of the journals were taken like this:

Lakilulu: 2

Croco: 1

Bandy: 4

Red: 10

Flint: 7

Luvbi: 8

Frankly: 6

Lee: 5

Hinopio: 9

"Now that you all have journals, enjoy breakfast!" A plate of pancakes was brought out, and the players cheered. "Hey, they even have smiley faces!" Bandy laughed.

 **Red: It was nice to relax a bit. I had a feeling the game was about to start getting stressful though.**

 _ **To be continued**_


	2. Episode 1, Part 2

_**Author's notes: Glad to have part 2 done already! It's short, but the next part will be much longer and action-filled :)**_

 _ **Princess Toady: Thank you for reviewing so much! I'm glad you like the cast, I wanted to have a little creativity in writing in personalities and such. As for Koopie and Lakilulu, we'll see what happens with them! They have formed a coalition though xD As for the comment about the Mole being capitalized, I always capitalize the species in Mario fics so that really did mean Monty there, haha. Or did it... xD Thanks again for reviewing! ^.^**_

10 players. One winner. One traitor.

 _Who is the Mole?_

 _"Is it Bandy Andy, a 23 year old prizefighter from Glitzville?"_

 _"Is it Red Bones, a 38 year old attendant from Hooktail Castle?"_

 _"Is it Lee Sheet, a 24 year old martial arts expert from Toad Town?"_

 _"Is it Luvbi Grambus, a 22 year old politician and ruler from the Overthere?"_

 _"Is it Hinopio Flaret, a 27 year old shopkeeper from Barrel Volcano?"_

 _"Is it Koopie Koo, a 26 year old florist from Petalburg?"_

 _"Is it Professor Frankly, a 61 year old professor from Rogueport?"_

 _"Is it Croco Dials, a 26 year old entrepreneur from Bandit's Way?"  
"Is it Flint Cragley, a 36 year old documentary maker from Floro Caverns?"  
_

 _"Or is it Lakilulu Spike, a 21 year old florist from Flower Fields?"  
_

After breakfast, the players were seemingly given a break from the game. As no instructions were given however, they all were reticent to leave the inn. Luvbi, Bandy, and Hinopio all quickly took advantage of the small inn's pool, and seated themselves there. Bandy dangled his legs over the side as Luvbi and Hinopio sat in the cooling depths.

"Man, I don't know what to think about this game so far! It's crazy. I'm trying to write some stuff in my journal, but I'm getting nowhere,' Hinopio complained. Bandy shrugged.

"Heh, you're getting nowhere? Honestly, I'm still trying to think of how to play," the Bandit admitted. "Like, should I write down stuff like where we are now? What you're wearing?" As the second was clearly addressed to the bikini-clad Luvbi, he received a blush from her. The Bandit winked at her. "Maybe not that, hehe."

 **Luvbi: If Bandy is the Mole, I'd be so surprised. He gives away so much about himself and he doesn't even realize he's doing it.**

Hinopio looked through the open door, to where Koopie and Lakilulu sat. "Anyone else find Lakilulu really kinda fishy for not jumping yesterday?" he asked to the group. Immediately, Bandy nodded.

"I tried to get her to jump before me, so I knew she would. She told me some crap about getting her nerves up though. Sounded like a total lie," Bandy said. Luvbi said nothing, making mental notes of what was said.

 **Hinopio: For some reason, I feel like I can trust Bandy. Maybe it's because outside of this game, I never would based on his looks. But in this game, he seems realer than almost everyone else.**

Meanwhile, Croco was writing intensively in his journal. Seated in the privacy of his room, he made no effort to talk to anyone else.

 **Croco: This first episode, everyone is going to try to act like the Mole. There's no point in trying to get information from anyone. Everyone is a liar at this point.**

In the lobby of the inn, an obvious coalition was being formed by Koopie and Lakilulu.

"So, if I notice anything fishy, I tell you, and you tell me?" the Koopa asked, flipping her hair. Her Lakitu companion nodded.

"We should compare journal notes tonight, and see where we both are," the Lakitu suggested. Koopie nodded, and giggled. "I have precisely zero notes so far!"

"Same here! Heehee, we're both on the same page at least!"

"I really can't believe we're both florists! That's such a coincidence! That's gonna be the first thing I write about in my journal," Koopie decided, writing the information down.

 **Lakilulu: Call it a girl's intuition, but I know I can trust Koopie. We're going to the final three for sure!**

At the table across the lobby from the two girls, Flint snorted. "Well, if that isn't an obvious partnership, I don't know what is!" the film maker snorted. Frankly chuckled.

"It may be, but the two of them don't appear to have much sense between them. It's harmless," the old Goomba said with a grin. Red laughed.

"Sheesh professor, you have a sharp tongue for an old man!" the Dry Bones said teasingly. Frankly looked over at the attendant with ire.

"Old man? I'll show you that I am no old man! I may be along in years, but I am as spry as a kitten!" the Goomba protested loudly, jumping to his feet. "Oof... Gotta watch the back," the Goomba mumbled, to snorts of laughter from Red and Flint.

 **Flint: That Frankly almost gives me a Moley vibe. He's already unable to do some things... He could easily play that up. Plus he's more intelligent than anyone here.**

The players happily chatted on, unaware that one player was not currently relaxing from the game. As Lee had proved to be quiet and distant, no one noticed that he was not present. The Duplighost was currently outside of the inn in the backseat of a black van, where he was waiting. Producers had come and taken him from his room, and he had willingly come.

 **Lee: I must have lucked into something, be it from my room, journal number, what I was wearing, I didn't know.**

Presently, Monty hopped into the front seat of the van. "Hello, Lee. Because you selected journal number nine, you are about to play a crucial role in the next mission of the team. If you look behind you in the van, you will see eight items. Right now, I want you to pick the three that would be most useful for a long run, boating across a lake, and a car lost in an unfamiliar town. Choose wisely," the Mole said cryptically. Lee thought for a second, before turning his attention to the trunk. The ten items he could choose from were: a map, with a route drawn on it in pen; a compass; a 6-pack of refillable water bottles; a set of keys; a set of walkie-talkies; a GPS device; a small black box with a green thumb print on the lid; and a flip-style cell phone. Lee stared at the items, puzzled.

 **Lee: So I see these items, and I don't really have a clue what I should do. I decided to be as smart as possible with my decisions, and to think a lot about them.**

"Well... People in a car who are lost could use the map, GPS, and compass. But the people in the boat wouldn't really have any use for a map of the land. A GPS might help them... Okay, the car will get the map, and the boat the GPS," Lee decided. "And the long distance runners... I'm going to give them the keys," he said confidently.

"So those are your picks?" Monty said neutrally. Lee nodded. "We'll see if you picked wisely. Now, select someone who has been kidnaped and needs to be rescued an item." Lee narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

 **Lee: So once I heard that, I instantly knew this would be a hostage type mission, and that I was going to be that hostage.**

"Well... A cell phone would mean calls to possible rescuers. As would walkie-talkie's. The water bottles, not much use. Compass, maybe could determine where the kidnaped person is, but not much good if you have to be rescued." Lee then eyed the box.

 **Lee: I knew what my choice had to be. There was something strange about that box.**

"I'm going to choose the box," Lee said. Monty nodded.

"Go ahead and open the box," the Mole instructed. Lee pulled open the lid, to reveal a green card that said 'EXEMPTION' on the side. Monty grinned.

"Lee, you are the first player to receive an exemption in this game. An exemption means that at our first quiz, no matter how you score on it, you will be safe from execution. You are guaranteed a spot in the next episode." Lee's mouth dropped in shock.

"That's about the best news I've had since we started this game," he said, his voice finally betraying an emotion: excitement. Monty then raised his hand.

"However. There is a catch. As you seem to have deduced, you are the person being kidnaped, and the next mission will revolve around your team, in the three groups I told you about, trying to rescue you. With your one item, you could have picked a handful of things that would have made the mission much easier, such as the cell phone. You could have used that to call one of the teams, or to receive calls from them. Now, they will be tasked with finding you with simply clues that they are given, and the items you gave them." Lee's excitement drooped a bit at this.

"Well, no use crying over spilt milk I guess. When does this mission start?" the martial arts expert questioned. Monty then grinned. "Right now!" he said, jumping out of the van, which sped away. Lee could only look out the windows, which suddenly went black, leaving him totally unaware of where he was going.

The other players, unaware of what had happened outside the inn, continued in their relaxing and conversing. Hinopio had gone to his room, claiming he needed to change his socks, as one had gotten wet. Bandy and Luvbi sat at a table outside, enjoying the sun.

"You think something crazy is gonna happen?" Bandy asked, kicking his feet up onto the table. Luvbi shrugged. "I couldn't say. Perhaps this game is much less exciting than the host made it out to be," she replied. Bandy rolled his eyes.

"No way, no how! No offense, heh. But we freaking jumped off a crane! I bet we're gonna sky-dive next or something," the fighter said. Suddenly, with a crackle of static, the hotel intercom turned on.

"Players of the Mole! Please be in front of the inn by 1:30, or in thirty minutes! I would be wearing something active," the intercom blared. Luvbi looked at the Bandit. "Perhaps something wild is about to happen," she said. Bandy laughed. "Did I tell you, I'm actually a psychic! Heh," he joked. Luvbi smiled at him.

 **Luvbi: Bandy is such a flirt! Maybe that's his strategy though, to try to get info from us girls.**

At the table of three, Frankly groaned. "Active? Why couldn't it be easy for an old guy like me?" the Goomba complained. Red laughed, but Flint looked intensely at the Goomba, before laughing as well.

"Oh well. Probably couldn't be worse than bungee jumping," Red said. "I'd have probably s*** my pants in mid-air if I had done that!" the Dry Bones said, arms akimbo. Flint stood up to stretch, and his knee caught the table, and tipped it over. "Damn leg muscles," he said jokingly, bending over to pick up the table.

Thirty minutes later, the nine players were gathered in front of the inn. At this point, they realized one of the players in their midst was missing.

"Hey, where's Lee? I could have sworn he said he was very disciplined," Koopie wondered. Croco rolled his eyes.

"Obviously, this is part of the game. The guy would have been the first person here if not," the dinosaur snorted.

 **Croco: Maybe I'm just an asshole, but really people, use your minds once in a while!**

Lakilulu frowned at Croco. "Hey, no need to be snarky. She's just curious. I'm sure we all want to know what's going on," the Lakitu reprimanded. Croco simply turned away and ignored the florist's remark. Fortunately, to curtail any more arguing, Monty walked out of the inn behind the players, and walked around to face them from the front.

"Hello players, and welcome to your second challenge! As I'm sure you've noticed, one of your friends is missing. Lee was taken hostage by a member of our crew, and brought to an unspecified location. Your mission today is called By Land, Sea, or Motor. I want you all to divide into three groups of three. One that likes to run, one that enjoys the open seas, and one that finds themselves lost a lot."

"Well, I definitely find myself lost a lot," Koopie declared. "And I don't want to run or go in water." Lakilulu quickly shouted "I get lost a lot too!" Frankly looked at the other contestants.

"Well, as an old man, I do tend to find myself lost a lot," he admitted. Monty looked at the three who had volunteered to be lost.

"Koopie, Lakilulu, and Frankly are the team that gets lost a lot!" the host declared. Croco shook his head, before raising his hand. "I like to run," he said with a dirty glance towards the 'lost team'.

 **Croco: The two nitwit girls volunteered without even thinking, just because they like each other. Stupid!**

Bandy then said "Well, I gotta run to stay in shape as a fighter, so count me in as a runner."

"I personally wanna go on the open seas," Red said enthusiastically. Luvbi nodded.

"I also would like to go on the seas," she said. Flint and Hinopio looked at each other.

"Honestly, I don't wanna run man. It's hot," Hinopio said, staring at the Cragnon man. Flint shrugged. "I want to run even less than you. I will slow the team down if I run," he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

 **Hinopio: Flint kinda bugs me. He's arrogant. I was excited to meet him, and now I'm kinda disappointed.**

"Alright man, I guess I'll run," Hinopio sighed. He looked fairly unhappy with the decision.

"It's settled then! Everyone, follow me to Toad Town Docks," Monty said, before he took off running down the road. Surprised, the players quickly followed the host as he ran south towards the docks.

"You have to be quick mentally in order to find the Mole," Monty called back to the trailing players. "Well, I think I found him, and he's leading us at a bit of a fast pace," Frankly panted.

Presently, the host made a left turn, and the players perceived that they had arrived at the docks. Off the side of the docks was a slick-looking white speed boat with a green thumb print on it. A few hundred feet away, a white van with a thumb print on it sat. Finally, next to a shed, a group of running starters-blocks were placed. Monty turned to the players, seeming a bit out of breath.

"Whew! In case you were wondering, this mission is worth up to 30,000 coins. The way this will work, is that for every team that is able to locate and 'rescue' Lee, I will add 10,000 coins to the pot!" The three teams cheered, before Bandy realized something. "Uh, how are we gonna find him?" he questioned. "We don't have any idea where to look!" The host laughed.

"Why, of course you do! Well, you have a start anyways. Inside each of your vehicles, and on your starting-block, runners, there is a clue to where Lee is. Also, Lee was allowed to select three items, one for each team, to help you find him. Those items are a set of keys for the runners, a GPS for the boat, and a map for the car, who is our lost team!" The spirits of the players were lifted. At least, for the boat and car teams.

"Keys?" Croco yelled incredulously. "How the hell are KEYS gonna help me run faster?" Monty shrugged. "You'll have to ask Lee that." he replied. The runners all looked a little miffed at the item choice they had been given. "As it is, we're gonna have to try and get rides everywhere, how are keys gonna help? We don't get a vehicle," Hinopio said bitterly. Monty cut off any more complaining with a whistle.

"If there are no more questions, but just complaints, let's get the mission started! It is 1:45 now, you will have until 3:45 to complete this mission. That time begins now, so I suggest getting to your vehicles, and clue for you runners." The players all froze in shock, before racing to their vehicles. The mission was on... and the Mole was antsy.

 _To be continued..._


	3. Episode 1, Part 3

**Author's notes:**

 **Ooh, the second challenge is here! Will the Mole ruin things for everyone, or will the genuine players prevail? ^.^**

 **Princess Toady: I'm glad you like how I'm characterizing the players. Yes, the other players already seem to hate the girls XD Croco is definitely forward in his thoughts, and that will continue through his confessions! As for Flint, yeah, he is a controversial player already :P**

 **I hope I gave Red more of a characterization in this episode, he is definitely unique! I realize that perhaps his interactions thus far weren't very revealing of who he is, hehe.**

 **Anyways, hope you all enjoy this chapter! :) Updating is fast because it's summer, and I'm not working xP Hopefully I can continue my rapid pace until summer is over! ^.^**

The players all took off at their own pace, with the runners outpacing the others to their area.

 **Time Remaining: 1:59**

Arriving at the blocks first, Croco swiftly picked up their clue. "Three times around, the engines went. Rhyming words may guide your way," the dinosaur read impatiently. "I'm pretty sure this means Mario Kart..." he said confidently. The other runners, having barely trailed him, listened to his explanation.

"Okay, but rhyming words? Honestly, that is confusing to me," Bandy said breathlessly. "I never followed any of those tournaments really."

"Hey, I think it might mean race course title? But guys, we need to move!" Hinopio exclaimed. "We are gonna have to figure it out on the run and hitchhike there, cause Lee gave us some totally useless keys," the Toad complained, tossing the chain that held three keys up and down.

"Hold it. Before we run, let's check out the area. Maybe the keys open up something to help us right here," Croco said decisively. Hinopio shook his head, frustrated.

"No, man! We gotta go! The guy screwed us, we're gonna have to just go!" the shopkeeper argued heatedly.

"Hey, I kinda agree with Croco here. But, I don't see anything our key could be used on. Maybe if we go back towards the inn we might find another car or something?" Bandy said. "Either way, we're gonna need to figure out this clue though."

"Okay, I'm gonna go ask one of the dockworkers if I can use his phone to look up the tracks," Hinopio said, running off towards a nearby Toad who was working. Croco growled.

 **Croco: Hinopio was trying to rush things, and didn't want to think anything through. Very frustrating.**

Meanwhile, the lost team had reached the van. Opening the door, Koopie could see the map Lee had given them. "Hey guys, there's our map! And look, there's a path already written on it!" she exclaimed. The other players looked at the map, surprised at their luck.

 **Lakilulu: When I saw the route on the map, I grinned. Ten thousand coins basically was given to us!**

"Well, we can just follow the map! Tally-ho, who will drive?" Frankly questioned. The girls stared back at the old Goomba.

"I, uh... Do not have my license," Koopie admitted, blushing in shame. Lakilulu laughed.

"I don't either! So, looks like you're driving," the Lakitu said, pausing before adding, "Gramps." Frankly breathed in deeply.

"I will let that slide! As for me driving, I suppose I shall," he said in a huff. "Shall we look for our clue?" he questioned. "What's the point? We got the map!" Lakilulu said with a shine to her voice. "The clue is probably hard to figure out anyways, and we have the answer!" The Goomba paused for a second, before shrugging. "Okay, let's go then!" he said, looking at the other two who were outside the car still. Once the team climbed in the car, the Goomba pulled away at a surprisingly fast rate. None of the three bothered to look for their clue, which sat inside the glove box of the car.

 **Frankly: The power that we Goombas use to drive and pick up items... will remain secret.**

On the boat, an elated Red had found the clue and GPS device. "Our clue is literally GPS coordinates!" he exclaimed happily. Flint's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"Well, I'll be damned. That sheet freak really did pick us out the right item," he said in wonder. Luvbi narrowed her eyes at Flint.

 **Luvbi: I am sure I'm not the only one bothered by the rudeness that Flint has exuded thus far. I don't find him suspicious... Just ill-mannered.**

"Perhaps curtail your insults, and drive the boat," she suggested curtly. "Red is navigating, and I do not know how to drive a boat." Flint looked over at Luvbi, ire in his eyes.

"What makes you think I know how? Who died and made you queen anyways?" he said argumentatively. Luvbi immediately flushed a hot shade of pink.

"Why, you disrespectful fool! Who died and made you such an ass?" she replied hotly.

"Hopefully no one important died in your case, cause you are a total bitc-" Flint cut himself off as a strong wave striking the side of the boat made him lose his balance. Red sighed.

"Guys.. Come on! We need to focus. Ugh," the undead muttered, as his plea went unheeded by the angered other members of his team. "Uh... Shoot."

 **Red: I'm kinda the quiet, awkward guy usually. People laugh a lot around me... usually at me. Trying to lead a team? Not my thing.**

As the boaters argued and the lost group drove off, the runners were attempting to figure out their much more difficult clue. Hinopio had finally made it to the dockworker he intended to ask to borrow a cell phone from.

"Excuse me sir, can I borrow your phone for a minute?" he asked breathlessly. The dockworker looked at him for a second, before nodding. "Alright, but hurry up. My break ends in ten minutes."

"Okay, Mario Kart courses... Donut Plains... Royal Raceway... Peach's Beach! I got it!" he yelled to the other two runners, who were waiting impatiently. "Thank you so much sir!" he said, thrusting the phone back into the confused worker's hands, and sprinting back to his waiting teammates. "It's Peach's Beach," he said once he got back. Bandy nodded.

"Okay, sweet. We need to go, man," he said to Croco. "There's nothing here." The dinosaur didn't look convinced. "Let's just search the docks really quick. We might find something for our key," he said in reply.

 **Bandy: So Croco decides we're going to search the whole dock area, instead of trying to go. He was convinced that the key would open something there. Kinda fishy.**

 **Time Remaining: 1:43**

On the boat, Luvbi and Flint had finally cooled down. Neither was acknowledging the other's existence. Flint, having silently agreed to steer the boat, directed its prow across the glistening waves as Red told him what the GPS was telling them to do.

"Okay, so now that we're on the open seas, take us right," he said. "Okay... Perfect! We're right on course." Flint snorted, as he stared out across the seemingly never-ending waves. To the right of the boat was the shore, where eventually the boat would need to go.

"Whatever. I'm not going to drive this the whole time. Just saying," he said, as Red gave him a tired look, and Luvbi sat in the rear of the boat fuming.

 **Red: Things seemed to be going okay... But man, that was one, uh, fun ride *laughs***

The lost team had the best spirits of all three groups. As Frankly drove their car down a road, they passed green fields, small towns, and flowers. Koopie, who was holding the map, read the words off of a small sign that they passed.

"Neon Heights turnoff is in three miles! Who wants to go there and ditch the game?" she asked the car. Lakilulu grinned at her coalition partner from the backseat.

"Ooh! I've always wanted to be in a movie! It's so easy to become an actress there, anyone could it. I would be a good one I bet," she giggled. Frankly rolled his eyes.

"It is much more work than you think, and I believe you would find yourself unhappy with the actress life. It takes a certain kind of person to be an actor! You have to totally hide your true self, and what's inside of you. Much like this game," the Goomba said wisely. The girls, chastened a bit, were quiet. After a few minutes of silence, Koopie saw another sign.

"Cheep Cheep Beach! Only thirty more miles," she said excitedly. Lakilulu cheered, making Frankly and Koopie wince. "We're almost there!" she shouted.

 **Frankly: I was in a bit of discomfort with the girls... They were like Goombella but on some sort of drugs.**

"Ooh, we're halfway there..." Koopie sang, looking at the other players in the car. Even Frankly couldn't resist singing along.

"Woah! Living on a prayer!"

At the docks, Bandy and Hinopio were getting more and more frustrated with Croco. The dinosaur was checking every building and storage shed, hoping to find one the key worked with. A lot of their allotted time had passed, and the sun was beating down with ferocity on the three.

"I'm sure there's something here... I know it!" he said confidently. The other two looked at each other in irritation.

 **Hinopio: I was really getting tired of us searching for something that wasn't there. It was a total waste and extremely Mole-like of Croco.**

"Come on, man! We have..." Hinopio searched the docks with his eyes. His eyes finally settled on the large clock that was on the front of a nightclub called Club 64. "An hour left! Who knows how far Peach's Beach even is!" Croco turned to look at him.

"Yeah? You know, why didn't you look up where it was and how far away it was? You had the phone!" the dinosaur said, pointing his finger accusingly at Hinopio. Bandy quickly ran between the two, with a worried look on his face.

"Come on, you guys! There's no point in arguing! We gotta work together!" he pleaded. His eyes suddenly picked up on something across the harbor, and his face lit up. "Hey! Gimmie the keys!" Croco just looked at him."Come on! Give me the keys!" the Bandit begged. Croco finally shrugged and threw him the keys.

"Okay, follow me!" he said, running back towards the blocks. "I can't believe we didn't notice the shed right behind us!" His teammates, with that realization dawning on them, swiftly followed him back across the salmon-colored pavement to the shed right behind where their starting blocks had been. On the door of the seemingly normal shed was a lock. An excited Bandy put one of the keys inside. "Uh, wrong one, heh," he said, quickly withdrawing the first key and putting the second one in. The lock fell aside, and the door swung open. The players were greeted with a welcome sight for their sore eyes, as something that would seemingly make their mission a cakewalk lay in front of them.

"A Warp Pipe! No way," Hinopio said in shock. Croco grinned.

"I knew we needed to search these docks! Well, what are we waiting for?" he said. The ex-thief quickly charged at the pipe and leapt in, disappearing into the green pipe. Bandy and Hinopio looked at each other, before Bandy raced at the pipe "Whoo, baby!" he yelled as the pipe swallowed him up. Hinopio quickly followed suit, although silently.

 **Bandy: Maybe Croco was the smart one after all... Heh**

 **Hinopio: I guess I gotta eat crow. Damn it! At least we listened to him.**

 **Time Remaining: 1:03**

The boat group was totally silent. The trip seemed to be taking an unusual amount of time to the players, who all wished they were somewhere else at the time. Red, sitting glumly at the front prow of the boat, simply wanted to be away from the other two. Luvbi wanted to be inside, out of the heat of the glaring sun. Flint wanted to be on the beaches that were barely visible to the three, sipping on a margarita.

"Well... I think, uh, this is really cool guys. We're on a speedboat!" Red said with false excitement, trying to start a conversation. The only response he got was the sound of the boat's engine powering the group onwards. "Hey Flint, I'll drive now if you want," he offered. Flint shrugged.

"Alright, I could use a break," he said, moving away from the wheel. "Here, I'll take the GPS." As Red went to hand the GPS to Flint, a large wave struck the boat. Red stumbled, and the device slipped from his hands and flew over the side of the boat. Luvbi and Flint stared in disbelief at the Dry Bones as he stared out back of the boat where the device had long been passed up. "Oh, no no no..." he mumbled. Flint angrily kicked the side of the boat. "You idiot!" he yelled at the stricken Red.

 **Flint: Total, obvious sabotage. He just flew to the top of my suspect list after that. It was almost like he threw it, it flew so far to go out of the boat.**

"Hey, it's not my fault you just left the wheel!" Red argued, suddenly realizing what Flint had done. "We would have totally missed the wave if you had waited for me to get there!"

"Now, stop arguing like fools. It is of no consequence at this very second who caused the accident. At this point, I believe searching the boat would be valuable. Perhaps we will find another clue on board," Luvbi said. Despite their earlier confrontation, Flint realized the value in Luvbi's words and nodded. "I'm sorry Red. Let's search the boat," he said.

"Don't apologize. I can't believe I, uh, let that happen. Some attendant I am," Red said ruefully in response. The three quickly began to open every compartment on the boat, searching for any possible clue to their destination. All three failed to notice the decals on the seats of the boat: Three peaches on one, and a beach scene on another.

 **Time Remaining: 0:52**

The car team was nearing their location, and the three members were all excited. "Koopa Troopa Beach, 7 miles!" Lakilulu yelled excitedly. Koopie grinned. "We're gonna be the first ones there for sure!" she said confidently. As they were driving, the van's tire hit a pothole, and Koopie's knee hit the button that opened the glove box. "Oh, whoops!" the Koopa said as some papers and a small phone fell out. "Registration for the car, a travel brochure, a cell phone, and—hey, this looks like our clue!" she exclaimed. Lakilulu leaned forward in interest. "Ooh, let's see if we can solve it before we get there!" the Lakitu giggled. "To fruity sands travel, then this clue will unravel... Hey. Wait a second," Koopie said, concerned. "This doesn't sound like Koopa Troopa Beach." Frankly, from the drivers seat, didn't look phased.

"No worries! I'm sure that's probably a more specific clue to where our friend Lee is," he said reassuringly. Koopie was thinking hard, and suddenly it hit her.

"Peach's Beach... We went the wrong way! Oh, no," the florist groaned as the realization hit her. Lakilulu looked stunned.

"No way! You're positive? I think Frankly is right, what if this is right?" she argued. Koopie shook her head in disappointment.

"No, the map lied to us. I'm sure we're going to Peach's Beach." The other occupants looked shocked and were in disbelief.

 **Frankly: So, the map was a phony. Lee could have easily misdirected us. But Lakilulu stopped us from looking for the clue too. Hmm...**

"Well, you seem convinced. I'll turn around at the next possible place," the Goomba said, eying the long stretch of pavement in front of him. "Wherever that is..."

"What about the cell phone? Is there any numbers in it?" Lakilulu asked. Koopie picked it up, and clicked through it. "Nothing... And outgoing calls and texts are disabled anyways," she said forlornly.

Underneath Toad Town, there are sewers that allow people to traverse through them. Hundreds of green pipes lay everywhere, serving as bridges and warps to destinations. Water dripped on the ground, creating mold and puddles on the cement flooring. The place was dimly lit by a handful of lanterns that were hung from the ceiling, and smelled... Disgusting. The three runners fell down onto the ground in a pile.

"Oof! Hey, watch it!" Croco yelled as Bandy and Hinopio both fell on him. Bandy looked at him sheepishly. "Heh, sorry. So, what now? I thought this was gonna take us straight to the Beach," the Bandit complained.

"Well... Look. There's two ways we can go, left or right. And there's a little sign here," Hinopio said, walking over to the sign. Squinting his eyes against the darkness, he looked at the words.

"If you go left, the beach is near! But you'll have to walk forward and have no fear," Hinopio read. "If you go right, your path will have light! 5,000 coins will be taken, as your sole complication." Bandy and Croco both looked at the Toad with some confusion in their eyes.

"Sounds like if we take a left, we gotta do something crazy," Bandy said, thinking hard. "And if we go right, we'll take a penalty, but get to the place no problemo." Croco immediately started walking left.

"Let's see what challenge lies ahead if we go this way," the dinosaur said, his voice growing quieter as he passed through a doorway. "Oh." The other two players ran over to the businessman, who was staring across a large gap. Croco looked down over the gap, and saw that it was a pit that ended in murky waters some hundred feet below. The gap appeared to be about fifty yards in length, and seemingly impassible: the room was totally bare of any objects that would help the players pass the test.

"Well. I might have bungee jumped, but no way am I going down there," Hinopio stated. Bandy nodded in agreement. "There isn't even a ladder on the other side!" he exclaimed. Croco shook his head, as he noticed the only ladder was on their side.

"What about our clue? It says that we must walk ahead with no fear..." he muttered. "Well, I walked ahead with no fear, and there's that," he said, shaken. He had almost walked over the edge when he had walked through.

"Honestly, we need to think guys. This looks impossible, but I'm sure it's not," Bandy said. "Maybe we need to calm down, and just consider it. I'm thinking we must have needed another item," the Bandit offered. Hinopio looked suspiciously at Bandy.

"We could only have one. We couldn't have gotten into this shed without those keys," he countered, eying the fighter. Bandy slapped his forehead.

"Oh, you're right. My mistake. Gah, this sewer is getting to me," he admitted with a sigh.

"Okay, so I'm thinking of what the clue means. I think we gotta climb down," Croco said to the shock of the others.

"What? That's a horrible idea!" Hinopio yelled. "I'm not going down there. You can go if you want." A quiet Croco shrugged. "I will then," he said nonchalantly, and began to climb down the ladder.

 **Croco: I had to do something. Time was ticking, and we needed answers.**

Out at sea, the boat had been stopped by Flint as the players searched the entire boat. The only thing anyone found was a picture of a Cataquack. Luvbi had found it stowed underneath the drivers seat during her desperate search.

"Hmm.. Those are native to Isle Delfino. I know that cannot be our location, as that would take more than two hours to get to," she mused. Red finally noticed Luvbi had found something.

"Hey, uh, you know, telling us you found something would be good! No? Okay," the Dry Bones mumbled, as Luvbi ignored him. He strode across the boat to see what she had found, and his face lit up. "I know where we're going!" he grinned. Flint stared at him. "How?" he asked warily. Red happily pointed to the picture in Luvbi's hand.

"These are only found on one place near here: Peach's Beach! I remember, since I attended the Grand Prix that course is on!" he exclaimed happily, throwing his arms in the air in celebration, and knocking Luvbi down in the process. "Uh... Sorry?" he said, offering his hand to help her up.

"That is great that we know the location, but how will we recognize it?" Luvbi asked curiously, after accepting his help up. "Also, please be careful next time." Red laughed, and blushed.

"Easy! Look for an oasis and a ramp sitting out in the middle!" he said excitedly. "And excuse my rude behavior Luvbi. I'm usually always this awkward," he said, looking very embarrassed. Flint rolled his eyes. "Okay, whatever, let's drive and look for this place! We haven't passed anything like that so it's up ahead" he said, shocking the other two back into action.

 **Time Remaining: 0:37**

In the car, spirits were down as the group drove the direction they had came from. Koopie sighed. "I can't believe this map was phony... Ugh!" she said angrily, slamming her hands on the dashboard.

 **Koopie: Lee, you single-handedly ruined this mission. If that's not Mole-like, what is?**

 **Lakilulu: I can't believe the map was fake. That's so sneaky!**

"Girls, we must keep our spirits up. We can still make it with a bit of luck on our side," Frankly said reassuringly. "We have no traffic ahead of us, so away we will go!" As he said this, the car increased its speed slightly, pushing its limits.

 **Frankly: This challenge was frustrating. To be cooped up in a car for a long stretch of time, and then to go the wrong location... We truly lived up to our team name.**

"Hey... Peach's Beach is only 22 miles away!" Koopie read. "We can do this!" The whole car cheered, as they realized that not even the map trouble would make it impossible to win the coins.

Underneath the town, Croco had finally reached the bottom of the pit. Upon reaching the bottom, he quickly realized there was nothing there at the bottom. "Phaww, that stinks! There's no chance there's anything down here," the dinosaur decided, ascending back up the ladder. At the top, Bandy and Hinopio had been discussing something with the dinosaur gone.

 **Hinopio: So, me and Bandy decided we need to seriously think about taking the penalty. Some money was better than none.**

 **Bandy: It wasn't my first choice, but we couldn't find out what was going on! Like, seriously?**

"Croco, we've discussed it, and we're going to take the penalty," Bandy said as soon as the dinosaur had hopped back up onto the ledge. "We're out of time, man. We gotta make some money." the Bandit reasoned. Hinopio nodded, backing up the fighter. "If we keep wasting time, even if we figure it out we're going to be too late to win any money," the shopkeeper said. Croco just shrugged.

 **Croco: At that point, I was done with this challenge. Any money sounded good.**

"Okay! I'm ready to go," he said, surprising his teammates. He led his teammates to the right, to where a simple pipe bridge lay. "We are taking the penalty, and crossing this bridge," he said to the cameraman behind them. They crossed the bridge, and saw a warp pipe with a sign saying "Peach's Beach This Way" in front of it.

"Here goes," Bandy said, gulping in air before leaping in, followed swiftly by his teammates.

Time Remaining: 0:13

The boat was racing across the sea, with Flint driving, and Red and Luvbi looking towards the shore for their destination. The group had been totally quiet while searching for the destination, when suddenly Red yelled "There it is! We found it! We did it!" he yelled jumping up and down. Sure enough, the familiar beach layout could be seen, with the stone path the karts had driven across clearly visible. It led up to a small town, where the players assumed Lee would be.

Unfortunately, once again, tragedy struck the boaters. A large wake created by another boat leaving the beach smashed into the side of the boat, and tipped Luvbi over the side. "Oh, shoot! Hey Flint! We got a problem!" Red yelled. "Luvbi went over the side!" Flint couldn't believe his ears.

 **Flint: Our destination was right there, even with our horrible mistake earlier. And then this happens. I gotta admit, I lost it a bit.**

"Are you kidding me? NOW? We're so close!" the Cragnon man screamed in anger. Red, taken aback, mumbled "Turn the boat around, we have to get her." Flint angrily spun the wheel of the boat, which would take a long time to reverse direction as compared to a car.

"This is gonna kill us..." Red sighed, as they pulled up next to the ethereal ruler. Red lowered the ladder off of the back of the boat, and Luvbi climbed up it as quickly as she could. "Go, go! Red yelled. "Money is at stake! And, uh, I'd kinda like it if I win!"

 **Luvbi: The wave that struck our boat was ferocious, and I was in a poor position due to trying to lean out to see the shore. When it hit, I went over immediately. While unintentional, perhaps others will see it as sabotage, which can only benefit me.**

"I hope we can still arrive in time," Luvbi sighed, as Flint turned the boat around once more, and sped towards the shore.

Time Remaining: 0:07

"Okay, okay, we're here! This is Peach's Beach, park here!" Koopie said excitedly, eying the clock on the dash. "We don't have much time at all!"

"Perhaps I can get closer though," Frankly objected, passing the open parking spot, leaving Koopie in total shock.

"No! It's packed! We have to park and run," she pleaded, to no avail. Frankly shook his head.

"Ahead, look, a parking spot. And look at the green pipe just down the road!" he said to the other two. A green flag was waving out of it, with a familiar logo on it. Pulling into the spot, the three jumped out of the car and ran down the street. As they ran down the cobbled road, Lakilulu ran into a pedestrian, knocking her off balance a bit.

"Excuse me, I'm so sorry!" she called backwards to the Koopa. Not looking forwards, she totally missed the cobble piece that was sticking up higher than the others. "Oof!" Frankly looked back, and saw that the Lakitu had tripped and fallen onto the road.

 **Frankly: Not only was I ahead of that girl, she then trips? Hmm...**

Hopping out of the pipe, Bandy grinned. Directly in front of him inside the large green pipe that is part of the race course sat Lee, guarded by two producers. He was waving a green flag with a black thumb print on it. "Whoo! We did it, baby!" he yelled, sprinting over to the Duplighost. Hinopio and Croco, seeing their teammate sprint towards Lee, knew they had succeeded.

"Yes!" Croco said exuberantly, pumping his fist as they ran to the pipe. Once they had arrived, they breathlessly waited to see what would happen next. Appearing out of the shadows, Monty surprised the three.

"Hello, runners! I am glad to see that you made it here. You all look tired," he commented, to emphatic nods from the three. "We didn't even really have to run! But man, I'm still exhausted," Hinopio admitted.

"Give it to us Monty... Did we make it?" Hinopio asked, tapping his foot anxiously. Monty frowned, and looked at his wristwatch.

"It appears you made it here by... 3:44! Therefore, you have succeeded in your leg," Monty exclaimed. The runners and Lee all exchanged high fives. "I do understand a penalty was taken, however, so your team will only earn 5,000 coins." Lee looked at the three suspiciously.

 **Lee: I was totally out of this mission, so I have no clues as to who could have sabotaged. Fortunately, I will not have to worry about that at this quiz.**

"Yeah, we kinda just got stopped by that gap," Bandy said dejectedly. "There was no way we could have crossed that!" Monty just smirked at the thief.

"Perhaps... Or perhaps you could have. In any case, we will find out when the other players arrive," he said, to the frustration of the three.

Around three minutes later, Frankly, Koopie, and Lakilulu all showed up, panting and out of breath. Monty gave a sad smile to the three.

"Hello, team lost. Congratulations on making it here. Sadly, you are three minutes past the time allotted to you, so no money will be awarded." An angry Koopie stepped forward, pointing an accusing finger at Lee.

"Yeah, well maybe if we hadn't been given a map with phony directions, we could have gotten here on time! Our map led us to the wrong beach!" she said hotly. "Have anything to say?" Lee just shrugged.

"Perhaps my choice was flawed. It was rather difficult to make choices, all things considered. I had no idea the map was faulty," the Duplighost explained to the angry florist. She stepped down, still looking angry at the situation.

 **Koopie: Lee screwed us! That's so suspicious. Ugh.**

It was a good fifteen minutes before the final team arrived. A dejected Red, angry Flint, and damp Luvbi jogged up to the group, knowing that the challenge was lost.

"Hello, boaters. As you apparently know, you did not arrive on time to rescue Lee. As such, you have failed your leg of the mission." The three looked at each other in silence. Monty coughed, before continuing.

"As a whole, players, I'm afraid this mission was not much of a success. Out of a possible 30,000 coins... Only 5,000 were won." The players all looked down at this statement. In a more mysterious and accusing tone, Monty spoke on.

"Runners. You wasted over an hour searching the docks because of Croco's insistence. Later, he delayed you even more when you were trying to solve your riddle. Which, by the way, was simple. There were invisible blocks beneath your feet, and if you had followed the instructions and walked forward without fear, you would have made it safely across." A dawning look of realization came across the faces of the three. "However, you were the only team to win any money, even though it was a reduced amount because of your decision to take the penalty. Also, the item choice that Lee had for you was in fact the best choice you could receive!" The players gave a weak cheer to this. Croco was fuming.

 **Croco: While suspicion is good as a player, I'm furious that Monty didn't call anyone out but me. That was mean-spirited *laughs bitterly***

"Boaters. Your whole day was a day of mishaps. Luvbi and Flint, you two were arguing from the first minute. It slowed your progress tremendously. Your group also didn't discover your clue until midway through the game." The boaters looked confused.

"But... What about the GPS coordinates?" Flint asked the host. Monty looked confused as well. "No coordinates were given as a clue to you. In fact, your best item was not the GPS, but instead the cell phone, which you could have used to call the lost team, whose phone could only receive calls from that phone," the host said. Both Luvbi and Flint's eyes turned to Red, who wilted under their stares.

"H-hey, just because I saw them doesn't mean I did anything!" he protested weakly. Everyone looked shocked at the announcement made by Monty. The host then made two more shocking revelations to the other players about the boating group.

"But not only did you fail to find your clue, even if the GPS device had been useful, Red dropped it overboard in an accident, meaning that there was no way to guide your team. Later, Luvbi managed to fall overboard right in front of the destination, causing her team to spend a large amount of time turning around and picking her up," the host said frankly. Red looked like he was going to break out in tears, while Luvbi held her head high.

 **Red: I knew everyone would hate me after this mission... Ugh! Why can't I just be a normal player? Why do I have to be the idiot who messes up?**

 **Luvbi: As a politician, I know that people will accuse me of things. I simply ignore these accusations, as they are baseless.**

"As for the lost team, you all were led astray immediately by the map, which was the worst possible item that could be chosen for any team. Unbeknownst to the lost team, the map had an incorrect route on it. If you recall the clue found at breakfast, you would realize that the Mole had clued you in that this map was no good, in the second half." The players all strained their minds to remember, with only Croco able to recall the words. "I drew up a plan, but it's mine to keep. If you try to figure it out, you'll only lose sleep... Wow, it's right there," he commented flatly. Monty nodded in agreement with him, before continuing on.

"However, that's not to say that this map was the doom of your mission. Lakilulu, you encouraged the rest of the team that the map was all you needed, and no clue was necessary. Was it excitement, or was it sabotage?" Lakilulu shrank under the gaze of the Mole host. "Later, Lakilulu also tripped, and was running noticeably slower than Frankly," the host said. Lakilulu looked put out by this comment.

"Hey, I'm a Lakitu! I'm used to my cloud! I hardly ever run anywhere, ok?" she said in a huff. Monty just looked at her, before turning his gaze to the other two members.

"Koopie. During the whole drive, you never once looked in the glove box, where the clue resided. When an accident revealed it, you seemed to be the possible savior of the group. But were you simply deflecting suspicion off of yourself? You did suggest parking even farther away from the destination than you ended up being." Koopie scuffed her shoes on the ground, not meeting the eye of any of her fellow players or the host.

"Frankly. As the eldest of the group, you should have commanded more respect than you did. Why didn't you overrule the others and search for the clue? Maybe you trusted the map... Or perhaps you knew it was flawed," the host said. Frankly kept a level gaze, maintaining eye contact with the host while staying silent.

"Lee." Everyone turned their gaze to the hostage, and the one who had affected the mission so much by his item choices. "You picked two wrong items to give to teams. Was it unlucky? Or was it intentional? Also, the item you picked for yourself had no possible way of helping the team. Would you please share with the team what you picked?" The Duplighost held the card high, his face emotionless.

"That is what is the most valued thing in this game: Safety. It is an exemption, and a free pass through your first quiz. More will be offered during the game, but Lee was smart enough to pick out the first one." The other players were all shocked at the statement.

 **Red: Oh man, I could use one of those. I don't have a clue what I'm doing.**

 **Croco: Why was Lee chosen out of all of us? There must have been a reason... But what is it?**

"As a whole, this challenge was not a success. However, you did still manage to add 5,000 coins to the pot, bringing the pot up to 35,000 coins, which is a very respectable amount for the first episode!" the host exclaimed. The players looked a little happier after hearing this, and some congratulations were exchanged. However, a heavy air was about the group. The Mole had caused havoc in the mission, and the level of success they had achieved surprised even them. But the players still did have hope, for money had been won. And the Mole knew they would have their work cut out for them in the future, even though they had tasted success that day.

 **Total Pot: 35,000 Coins**

"Players, tonight you will be dining at the famous La Piantena Restaurant! They are well known for their island cuisine. I suggest you order what you desire, for who knows where you will be eating your next meal?" At the foreboding words of Monty, a chill ran down the spines of everyone. The host laughed. "But until then, enjoy the beach and town! Dinner will be at 6:30, so be there early to be seated."

 **Lee: I was a bit concerned with the words of the host, simply because I felt as if he was warning us of our next mission. However, I am not sure they actually mean anything.**

 _ **To be continued**_


	4. Episode 1, Part 4

**_Authors notes: Another chapter done! As this is the first episode and a trial one in some senses, this episode will be split into five parts instead of four which I have planned._**

 ** _Princess Toady's alter ego: Haha, why thank you for the fatass review! xD_**

 ** _I'm glad I did a better job of characterizing Red. He may seem over the top at times, but he is really supposed to be that way. As for Flint. Well. He is rather aggravating ;P My execution order has been set from before I started writing, so we'll have to see if your wish comes true xD_**

 ** _I'm glad you find Hinopio interesting! I really wanted to take a basically total blank slate there, and create my own personality for him that matched his game character as well as I thought it could while still being my own._**

 ** _also, major fail: Did not include the list of players left in last part... d'oh! heh. included it back in this one ^.^_**

10 players. One winner. One traitor.

 _Who is the Mole?_

 _"Is it Bandy Andy, a 23 year old prizefighter from Glitzville?"_

 _"Is it Red Bones, a 38 year old attendant from Hooktail Castle?"_

 _"Is it Lee Sheet, a 24 year old martial arts expert from Toad Town?"_

 _"Is it Luvbi Grambus, a 22 year old politician and ruler from the Overthere?"_

 _"Is it Hinopio Flaret, a 27 year old shopkeeper from Barrel Volcano?"_

 _"Is it Koopie Koo, a 26 year old florist from Petalburg?"_

 _"Is it Professor Frankly, a 61 year old professor from Rogueport?"_

 _"Is it Croco Dials, a 26 year old entrepreneur from Bandit's Way?"  
_

 _"Is it Flint Cragley, a 36 year old documentary maker from Floro Caverns?"  
_

 _"Or is it Lakilulu Spike, a 21 year old florist from Flower Fields?"_

After the unsuccessful mission that the players had taken part in, the overall mood of the group was dejection. Only one of them was happy with the day, and that player was the Mole. All ten players chose to take advantage of the beach town during their time off, with some doing things together and some going off alone. Red, after retrieving his luggage from a production van, changed into swim trunks and started to swim out towards the small island with the ramp. Ordinarily this island would be able to walked to, but the tide was high and the path had disappeared under the soothing blue waters. The Dry Bones wanted nothing to do with any of the other nine players at that moment. He had placed her journal into a small waterproof container he had brought in his luggage, and once he arrived at the island he walked up the boost-pad covered ramp and sat on the edge of it, pulling his journal out.

"Man. Worst day ever," he thought aloud, staring out across the ocean. Its seemingly never-ending lengths were reflected in the attendants ice-colored eyes.

 **Red: Well, today was not the best day I've ever had *laughs* So I just decided to take my thoughts away from everyone else, because I was having trouble focusing on what the most important thing is in the game: Finding out the Mole.**

Meanwhile, Croco had been casing the main street of the small town. Small, quaint houses lined the east side, while the few businesses in town were on the west. The dinosaur walked up to the most modern-looking building in town—the hotel. The building rose up higher than any other building in town, and had a slick grey facade to it with a huge Shine Sprite perched at its peak. He noted that there was a production van outside the hotel, and realized what that meant.

"Huh. So that's where we're staying tonight," he commented to the camera. "At least we're going to be in comfort again."

Just down the street from the hotel was a small, family-run gelato place. Koopie, Lakilulu, Bandy, Hinopio, Flint and Luvbi were all in line to order a treat. "Hmm, I really don't know what to choose! This place is so cute," Koopie giggled. Behind the corner, a jolly-looking and extremely fat Pianta sat with a grin.

"Hohoho! Let me dish you up the special of the day! It's called the Tropical Treat! Its ingredients come from a faraway island, and the locals say it packs quite a sour punch," he said in a deep, rumbling voice. Koopie smiled back at him.

"I'll take it! But, can I sample it first?" she asked hopefully. The Pianta nodded, and grabbed her a small spoon. "Wow! This really is good! It starts out sweet but has such a sour kick!"

"I'll take that too!" Hinopio yelled from the back. "Oh, wait your turn, silly," Lakilulu giggled. "I am! I just want mine to be ready quicker," the Toad retorted in a good-natured way.

"Heh, I want the Mud Pie. I can't resist chocolate," Bandy said, pointing to the menu. Flint grinned. "My man, we think alike," he said, high-fiving the thief. Luvbi meanwhile quietly selected the Vanilla Cream Super, while Lakilulu was torn between her love for fruit and her love for chocolate.

"Ugh! Um, can I flip a coin? I want Mud Pie and Tropical Treat, and can't decide" she asked the worker. He laughed with his booming laugh. "Hohoho, of course, young missy!" he said, taking a coin out of the register. "Heads, choco! Tails, fruity!" The coin spun up in the air, and landed on heads. "A Mud Pie it is!" Lakilulu looked happy with the result, digging into the dessert with alacrity.

 **Bandy: Man, it was really nice to just chill and unwind a bit. That mission was so stressful!**

Sitting at one table, Lakilulu, Koopie, and Hinopio were enjoying the beach town's view of the blue ocean in front of them.

"It's honestly amazing! I live in a freaking volcano. I never thought I'd be able to eat ice cream at a beach, like damn!" Hinopio said "It's been such a blessing to come out of my little hole and see this stuff."

"Hmm, come out of your hole? Sounds kinda Mole-like to me," Koopie said with a smirk. Hinopio threw his hands up in the air. "Can't even use a figure of speech without being suspected," the Toad moaned in an over dramatically fashion, causing giggles from the two girls.

"Hey, you never know when the Mole might slip up!" Lakilulu said, trying to seem wise. She got up to go throw away her paper dish and tripped on the leg of the table, falling over. "Ouch!"

"Well, at least that rules out the trip from earlier as sabotage, it really was clumsiness" Hinopio remarked, getting a laugh from Koopie and a dirty look from the fallen Lakitu.

 **Koopie: I like Hinopio. He actually seems to try in the challenges, and has a bit of fire in him. Sometimes I wish my boyfriend Koops was more like that, even though I love him tons the way he is.** **Please don't air this one, I really do love him *laughs***

 **Hinopio: Living in a volcano my whole life has made kind of a fiery person. I guess I don't have much patience because in there, when you leave the safety of your house you have to move fast because it gets too hot otherwise. It's weird though, I have a sensitivity to the heat of the sun that is way stronger than the heat of the volcano. It's gotta be the rays.**

Bandy and Luvbi occupied the second table, which had a view that allowed them to see the unique architecture of the town's rustic buildings. Bandy stuck his spoon into his ice cream, looking at one of the buildings in the process. "Huh, a library. Somehow didn't think there would be one here, didn't think there was much reading or learning going on, heh," he commented, followed by a large gulp of his dessert.

"Do not let the bumpkin attitude of these people fool you. They are more sharp than you might realize," Luvbi said, staring back towards the door of the gelato store. "The special the Pianta recommended cost the most by far out of any of the choices." Bandy stared at Luvbi with a surprised look, his mouth hanging open a bit.

"Huh. So he got over on a couple of us pretty good then," he said, settling back into his chair, still eying Luvbi. The politician looked at him and smiled. "You have chocolate on your mask," she said teasingly. Bandy looked shocked, and wiped at his mask frantically. "Hey, this is actually my face you know, contrary to popular belief," he complained. He then looked at her suspiciously. "There isn't any chocolate on me, is there?" She laughed. "I plead naivety."

 **Bandy: Luvbi is a very clever girl. Notices a lot. I need to stay by her and try to get her thoughts on suspects, cause I'm honestly pretty clueless right now, heh.**

 **Luvbi: Being aware is the most important thing in this game. At the moment, I am simply trying to observe players and their actions. For example, during the challenge today. Red was simply clumsy; the GPS was not intentionally dropped in my assessment. Of course, as it was leading us wrong anyways, perhaps he had wanted to hold onto it?**

Flint meanwhile had taken his ice cream, and walked down to the beach adjacent to the one where the ramp was. He sat under the rock structure in the shade, eating his Mud Pie happily.

"Close enough to my dream from earlier! Just missing the alcohol," he laughed wryly to the camera man. "I can't find a place that even sells liquor here! Maybe at dinner tonight."

 **Flint: I realize I have kind of alienated myself from the others due to my temper and comments. Growing up, I was bullied by both my peers and my father. I tend to lash out now in defense because of that. I also take things wrong or make ill-fated comments. Sometimes I feel like the only place I'm a normal, nice guy is on TV. But this show is even proving that wrong *bitter chuckle***

The excitement from the day had taken its toll on the oldest player in the game. Frankly was gone to the world, gently snoring He had found a bench in the shade on a side street, and fallen asleep. On the bench nearest to him sat Lee. A few minutes earlier, the Goomba and Duplighost had been chatting about martial arts. Lee shook his head and showed a tiny smile as he looked over at the professor.

"The old man fell asleep when I went to grab my bag from the van so I could have my journal. I decided to just let him rest," he explained to the camera. "He's the only person I have been able to really talk to in this game, as I respect his mind so much."

 **Lee: Frankly would be a dangerous Mole. Very dangerous.**

By 6:10, the players had all arrived in front of their restaurant for the night. The building was a simple-looking place, with a definite tropical theme—wooden boards made up its walls, while palm trees grew around its perimeter. Croco had gotten there first, and was tapping his tail on the ground. "I maybe should have gotten a snack while exploring," he admitted to Hinopio, who laughed. "Man, what are you wearing?" the Toad asked. In fact, Croco had bought something while he was out: a ridiculous Hawaiian-style shirt with pineapples and bananas all over it. The dinosaur shrugged. "2 coins, sweet shirt," he said, eliciting an eye roll and another laugh from Hinopio. "It's really pretty awful, but you do you man," the shopkeeper said with a smile.

"I really hope we are gonna have wine at the meal, I haven't had any for sooooo long," Lakilulu said to her coalition partner Koopie. Flint, overhearing her, nodded sagely. "Wise well beyond your years!" he exclaimed. The two girls giggled.

 **Lakilulu: Flint really isn't that bad! He's got a temper, but so do I.**

"Hmm, I feel quite refreshed! Although, I could use some air conditioning, it is rather warm," Frankly commented to Bandy. "Also, I didn't know you wore anything but cloaks!" The fighter had ditched his usual green robe for a white hooded tee shirt and blue boardshorts. The Bandit shrugged. "Hey, this is just my face. We wear cloaks cause our ancient tradition always instructed us to. Honestly I hardly wear mine outside the ring," he admitted. Frankly looked astounded at his statement.

"I've never heard of this, and I've studied your history before! I can't wait to uncover new knowledge now that I know this. I must plan another exploration," the Goomba said excitedly. Bandy just laughed. "Alright, prof! Glad I inspired you," he said jokingly.

At the back, Red and Lee stood, both quietly waiting for the host to arrive. Red nervously looked over at Lee, who seemed stone-faced and stoic as usual.

"H-hey. Can I ask you a question?" the Dry Bones said to the Duplighost, who looked over at him and nodded. "Go ahead," he replied in his brusque manner.

"Um, at the challenge today. Why were you chosen? Did they say?' Red inquired. Lee nodded. "It was because of my journal number. I couldn't decipher why that was important, but apparently it was." Red looked at Lee carefully.

"So, um, nine was important. Hmm," he said, writing the info in his journal. Lee looked at him thoughtfully.

 **Lee: Red is a smart guy. He seems clumsy and awkward, but there's more to him than just that.**

 **Red: Well, I now have most of the information I had been curious about. I'll keep my ears open at dinner though. Who knows what could slip out? Hopefully I don't say anything dumb.**

The host then opened the door in front of the players. "Hello, and welcome to the most famous restaurant in the area, La Piantena!" Monty grandly exclaimed. "It has been around for an impressive 140 years, back when the town was simply called Cobblesvlle, and has won ten awards for its delectable cuisine! Tonight, you truly will be dining well," he said with a wink. "Sadly, this isn't the original building. A fire destroyed the original about seventy five years ago. However, the restaurant has remained in the family of the Piantena's since it was opened!" The players all looked at the place for a minute, before Croco yelled out "I'm hungry! Can we go in now?" Monty laughed. "Of course! Come in, come in," he encouraged, as the ten players walked by the host and into the restaurant. "We have special seating to the left."

The players all trooped into the special room that had been prepared for them. The walls were adorned with painting and decorations of shores and oceans. The table was a long wooden oval, with eleven seats at it. The ten players all sat down at the table, as Monty sat at the head of it.

"Order what you like! Your meals are all paid for while you are on the show," Monty said, to the excitement of the group. "Not to mention your booze," the host winked. The ten all picked up their menus, eager to see what was available to them. A Noki dressed in the garb of a waiter walked in. "Whenever you are ready, I will take your order," he declared to the players and host.

"Oh man! Roasted mushrooms stuffed with pineapple, peppers and siracha! That's for me right there," Hinopio decided, putting down his menu. "Oh, and a glass of wine to go with it."

"Mmm, I'm gonna try the Island Steak," Bandy said. "How can you go wrong with steak grilled inside of peach juice?" Frankly shrank back at the comment. "Well, that would definitely be something I feel could go wrong," the Goomba commented wryly. Bandy laughed. "Nah? Heh, I think it'll be great. And get me some Merlot with that!"

"Well, I'm gonna get the Island Steak, cause it's so weird sounding ," Koopie declared. "Also, get me a bottle of Merlot. I'm celebrating tonight," she giggled, elbowing Bandy, who had only gotten a glass. "You can refill glasses," Bandy replied mischievously. Croco shook his head in a mocking fashion at the two.

"Ha, have fun with your head tomorrow. I'm gonna get the Seaside Pasta, sounds pretty good," the dinosaur remarked. "I'll take water, please."

"Gotta live a little! I'm gonna go for the Island Steak too, and two bottles of the best wine here," Red said, drawing some looks from his teammates. "Uh, maybe just a single glass?" he corrected, getting some eye rolls from everyone. "Ha, I'm not really a drunk guys, I promise."

"I will order the same as Hinopio, the stuffed mushrooms," Lee said. "I also want a glass of water."

"Can I get roasted and stuffed mushrooms as well? They sound quite tasty," Frankly said. "Oh, I will also take a glass of wine," the professor added. The waiter laughed.

"A lot of wine and mushrooms! I will return to take the rest of the orders," he said, turning around and leaving the secluded area of the restaurant. Monty shook his head in amusement as he viewed the players.

"I'm sure this will be an exciting time tonight! Remember though," the host said in a more serious tone. "One of you is lying to everyone at all times. One of you has nothing but destruction in mind during every game. That person is the Mole, of course. So just remember to always keep your guard up, because the Mole could strike at any time." The mood of the table temporarily went somber, before the excitement of gourmet food and wine resumed amongst them.

"Guys, can we all just agree that the beach is probably the best place on earth, yeah?" Lakilulu said happily. Croco grinned. "For once I agree with you, this is where magic happens," he replied.

"I am just curious as to why I have not gotten to order yet, for I am hungry too, and I am royalty," Luvbi said jokingly. While her style of speaking obscured the fact that she wasn't serious, Bandy and Koopie got it. "Heh, you'll just to wait your turn, huh?" Bandy teased.

"Maybe they knew you needed to be knocked down a peg," Koopie said, pantomiming hammering a peg. Luvbi laughed. "Perhaps, perhaps," she replied, happy someone understood her humor.

 **Hinopio: Finally, we all were together and we all were getting along. It sort of actually felt like a team right then.**

Right after Luvbi finished replying, the waiter walked back in. "May I take the last three orders? Don't worry, you are all very special to us and to your friends," he said in a strange tone. The players all stared at the waiter, attempting to figure out the strange change in tone.

 **Croco: There's gotta be some meaning to what he said. But what?**

 **Frankly: I couldn't tell if he was giving us a clue, or simply was an awkward man. Could have been both too I suppose.**

"Okay... Well, I would like the crab and rice filet. And get me a personal bottle of wine too," Flint said haltingly. The waiter nodded at him, and wrote down his choice.

"Um... I want the Original Pasta," Lakilulu said. "And I'll take a glass of wine, I guess."

"I personally wish to have the Lome Rizzioli," Luvbi said in a clear voice. Monty suddenly grinned. "Congratulations players! Because Luvbi ordered Lome, which is an anagram for Mole, you all have won 5,000 coins to the group pot!" The players all cheered, elated by the unexpected adding of money.

 **Lee: Suspicious behavior. But at the same time, perhaps just smart. I am thankful either way.**

 **Luvbi: When I saw that meal tucked away in a corner, I knew it had something to with our game. It had a completely different font than the other choices as well.**

"Because of this, your group pot stands at 40,000 coins! This side challenge was known as Menu Hunters by the way," Monty exclaimed. "And now, we will just wait a bit, and enjoy a gourmet meal!"

 **Total Pot: 40,000 Coins**

Once the wine arrived, tongues were loosened. The ten players started to reveal more about themselves to each other, and greater bonds were being formed between them.

"Wow! I seriously can't believe you went to the Mario Kart tournament! That's like, so crazy," Koopie said to Red, with a slight slur in her voice. "It was freaking amazing! Not even this game can compare to the excitement of that! I freaking met Mario!" the Dry Bones yelled, sloshing his wine on his food. "Huh, probably will taste better anyways."

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe you met Mario!" Lakilulu squealed. "My boyfriend worked with him and said he is the nicest guy! But I, uh, sort of blew him off when I could've met him," she continued. Hinopio laughed. "You mean you were an ass cause your man wasn't treating you right, huh," he said loudly, nodding sagely before drinking another sip of wine. The Lakitu punched his arm playfully, laughing.

"Heh, I remember back at the pit, the lady who runs it now used to think I was stalking her. I was like, bitch who's gonna wanna stalk you? She kept interfering with my investigations, so I just messed with her. Wow, I miss the place and my homies already, I wanna just beat the crap out of the Mole, put them in the ring," Bandy rambled to Croco, who just shook his head. "Man, I'm cutting you off after that," the dinosaur replied as the Bandit threw back another glass of wine in two gulps. "Dude. What if Frankly is the Mole? Perfect, right? Old smart dude gonna get us all." Croco snorted. "Thank you for telling me what's on your mind," he said mockingly.

Lee, Luvbi, and Frankly quietly sat eating, hardly interacting with the others. Frankly looked down at the other end of the table where Koopie had just spilled her bottle, and shook his head. "Foolish kids," he muttered to the camera behind him with a small smile. "They don't know how much they're giving away right now. I just heard that Bandy thinks I could be the Mole. He was trying to whisper, but he was a little loud, heh." The old Goomba chuckled.

"Never a bad thing to know someone's possible suspicion, and even better if it's of you!"

Luvbi eyed the rest of the group thoughtfully. One of the ten was the Mole, and soon she was going to have to know who. Underneath the table, the politician was quietly writing down everything in front of her—even things that seemed totally innocuous.

 **Luvbi: As a politician, I know that every little part of things is important, even down to my smallest word or action. When we write laws, there are many subcodes to them as well beyond the first lines that we disclose to the public in their announcement. As such, I will play this game assuming everything is important.**

Lee just quietly ate, his head and eyes hardly moving from his plate. "I'm taking tonight a bit more relaxed as I have the free pass. Perhaps that is a poor decision, but I honestly am very stressed from this game although I do not choose to show it," the Duplighost admitted to Luvbi. She nodded in understanding.

"I completely understand. I imagine a guaranteed pass is an amazing feeling," she commented wryly. "I myself could never take a night off. This appears to be a very challenging game, and I need every single advantage I can get." Lee smiled at the response.

"Trust me, there isn't a one of us, not even the girls, who isn't hunting for any possible leg ahead. I feel as if each execution will be a nightmare to those not exempt," he said, looking down again.

As the night wound down, the players' energy quieted with time. Finally, Monty looked at his wristwatch, and nodded to the camera men.

"Players! It is now time for us to go to the hotel. Outside are two large vans. Please pile in, and I will see you all tomorrow! Sleep well," the host said, walking out the door of the room. The ten players, happy to be headed to sleep, all left the table and headed out to the vans. Bandy, Croco, Luvbi, Flint, and Frankly climbed into van one, while Koopie, Lakilulu, Hinopio, Lee, and Red climbed into van two. In van one, people were silent. Frankly fell asleep within a minute of sitting down. Bandy's head was spinning as he tried to sober up. Croco stared out the window, while Luvbi and Flint both were reviewing their journals.

In van two, it was pandemonium. The four drunk players, Koopie, Lakilulu, Hinopio and Red were loudly singing and swaying to the radio, while Lee sat miserably in the backseat, hiding from the rowdy other four. "Psh, change the channel! I hate this song," Red yelled, to roars of approval from the other three. "There we go! We got some trance going on, baby!"

"Hey! Did anyone else think it was weird that they took away the wine bottles before we were done?" Koopie said, to a chorus of 'Yeah!' from the drunkards. "I wasn't done!"

"Like, we even paid for it! Well, we didn't, but someone did," Lakilulu slurred, giggling. Lee just covered his ears and sighed.

 **Lee: Why? Why did I not think before choosing this van?**

Once at the hotel, the front desk instructed the players to go to an open room, where a group of cots lay. "As we are totally booked, we cleaned out a spare room for you all to sleep in. I apologize for any issues," the Noki clerk said. Most of the players just took their bags and went straight to the cots. Koopie and Red quickly found the nearest restrooms. "Heh, serves them right," Croco laughed, getting an irate look from Lakilulu. "It does though," he stated in a matter-of-fact fashion, closing his eyes and settling down on his cot. None of the other players said anything else for the rest of the night, not even when the two sick players emerged, looking much more sober—and somber.

The next morning, light had barely begun to fall on the town when Monty tiptoed into the room with a megaphone. "GOOOOOOD MORNING!" the host shouted into the microphone, instantly waking up the entire group. "It is time for your third official challenge!" The ten players stared back at the Mole in a groggy state of shock.

 **Bandy: Come on, bro. You kidding me?**

"It's... 5:30? Why now?" Flint mumbled, rubbing sleep from his eyes before putting his hands to his head. "Not a good feeling."

"Because! This mission is called Combin'. I will need the three players who had their orders taken last first." Luvbi, Flint, and Lakilulu all looked at each other nervously before walking over to the others. "Your role in the challenge is fairly simple: You will be waiting at the end of this main street, right in front of the hotel. And that is where you seven come into play," the host said, pointing at the others. "You all will be combing the beach front. While the tide is out, there is a sandbar exposed. On that sandbar, hundreds of coins have been buried by the hardworking members of our production tea. Your goal is to find enough coins to buy the three items that are needed to complete this challenge, which will be found at the local tourist store across the street from the hotel. You must run them up to Luvbi, Flint, and Lakilulu yourselves."

Lee: Immediately I recognized the importance of what the waiter had said.

"But wait! What do we do?" Lakilulu complained. "Ugh, why does this have to be so early?" she moaned, holding her aching head, much like Flint.

"Because the tide will come back at 6:55, covering the sandbar with deep water once again. As for your role, it's a fun one. While the others are collecting coins from the sand, you three will be solving riddles as to what the items you need in order to win this challenge are. Once you have solved your riddle, you may use the coins brought by your teammates to go buy the item from the tourist shop. If all three items are bought, 15,000 coins will be added to the pot! However, if the items are not by the time the store opens at 7:05, the challenge is lost. If you fail at collecting all three items, you also have failed the challenge. Do you understand the rules?"

The ten players all nodded, although none of them looked happy at their mission. The Mole grinned at their discomfort.

"Perhaps you should relaxed on the consumption of wine last night. Ah well, a lesson learned! Your challenge begins now, so I suggest you all make your way to where you are going! Shovels and buckets have been left on the beach next to the sandbar for you seven, and the clues to the items are sitting on the tables outside! Good luck!" Monty exclaimed, as he watched the players stampede through the door. "They're gonna need it with all those hangovers."

 _ **To be continued**_


End file.
